MEXICO CITY - State and federal police found 79 mostly Central American migrants crammed into a truck's trailer in the northern border state of Coahuila, officials said.

The vehicle had departed the Mexican capital and was headed for the northeastern border state of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila's Security Commission said in a statement Thursday, adding that the migrants were found during a search the night before on Federal Highway 57.

A 48-year-old suspected people smuggler was arrested in the operation and turned over to the federal Attorney General's Office.

The group of undocumented migrants consisted of 33 men, 20 women and 26 minors, seven of whom were unaccompanied by a parent or guardian.

By nationality, the migrants included 43 Salvadorans, 18 Guatemalans, nine Hondurans, six Ecuadorians and three Nepalese

MEXICO CITY – Mexican federal forces have arrested an alleged leader of the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel and the mayor of Cocula, a town in the southern state of Guerrero whose waste dump was allegedly used to incinerate the bodies of 43 trainee teachers last year, officials told EFE on Friday.

The police and military operation was carried out Thursday night, a government official said without indicating where. Local media said the arrests were made in Cuernavaca, capital of the central Mexican state of Morelos.

In addition to Adan Zenen Casarrubias, the suspected drug-gang leader, and Mayor Erick Ulises Ramirez, a member of the leftist opposition PRD party who took office on Sept. 30, authorities also detained Eloy Flores Cantu, who identified himself as a legal advisor to the PRD in the lower house of Congress, the official said.

The detainees had two firearms and a packet with white powder “with the characteristics of cocaine” in their possession, the official said.

Zenen Casarrubias is the brother of purported Guerreros Unidos leader Sidronio Casarrubias, who was arrested a year ago for his alleged role in the disappearances of the 43 students in September 2014.

The capture of Sidronio Casarrubias led authorities to discover the extent to which organized crime had infiltrated the city of Iguala’s municipal government, which received more than $150,000 a month from the cartel.

It also exposed the cartel’s control over the municipal police forces of Iguala and the neighboring town of Cocula.

Police attacked the trainee teachers from the Ayotzinapa Normal School, a teachers training institution in Guerrero, on Sept. 26, 2014, after they had commandeered (the students’ peers say “borrowed”) buses in the nearby city of Iguala that they planned to use to travel to Mexico City for a protest.

Six people – including three students – were killed and 43 other students were abducted that night.

Federal authorities say the incident was the work of corrupt municipal cops acting on the orders of Iguala’s corrupt mayor.

The cops handed over the students to cartel gunmen, who killed the young people and burned their bodies to ashes at a garbage dump in Cocula, according to the official story.

But the parents of the missing students and their supporters reject that account, and last month a group of independent experts commissioned by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a report that cited a series of irregularities in the investigation.

Among other things, the experts said in their report – released on Sept. 6 and based on six months of field work, interviews and a review of the government’s evidence and conclusions – that “no evidence exists to support the theory” that 43 bodies were incinerated at the dump on Sept. 27, 2014, the day after the students disappeared.

Indeed, the report said the evidence gathered at the site showed there was not enough fire to burn even one body, the report said.

The experts also corroborated news reports indicating that federal police had been monitoring the students since they left Ayotzinapa for Iguala and at the very least knew that they had come under armed attack yet did not intervene.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

An Iranian dissident group said more than 20 of its members in Iraq were killed Thursday when a barrage of Iranian-made rockets slammed into a former U.S. military base near Baghdad, where the dissidents have been kept in a state of semi-captivity by Iraqi authorities for years.

While the casualty count could not be immediately verified, Iraqi police confirmed that at least 16 rockets had rained down on Camp Liberty, a facility the Iraqi government has used since 2012 to house more than 2,000 members of the Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK.

The government of Iraq and the United Nations who signed a Memorandum of Understanding and built a Temporary Transit Location (TTL) since 2011, are formally and legally accountable for this attack. In our view, however, as was the case in the six previous bloodbaths in Ashraf and Liberty, the Iranian regime’s agents in the government of Iraq are responsible for this attack and the United States and the United Nations are well aware of this fact.

Maryam Rajavi added: We had already warned about such an attack. Recently, too, 26 members of the US House of Representatives and 32 prominent political and military American personalities as well as 70 members of the French National Assembly warned the US, UN and the EU on their responsibility in this regard.

Camp Liberty under heavy attack – No. 3

According to the latest information received from Camp Liberty, over 80 missiles of all types have been hit the camp that houses Iranian opposition members.

Craters as deep as 2 meters and 3.5 meter wide have been created in some impact areas.The intensity of the explosions are to the extent that many housing units and their protective T-walls have been destroyed or fallen down.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Guided missile destroyer USS Lassen’s arrival in the South China Sea is another show of muscle by the "world policeman" and Washington’s clear message to its allies in the Asia-Pacific Region the "big brother" is ready to take care of their interests, polled experts have told TASS. The ship’s visit to the region was timed for US President Barack Obama’s forthcoming visit to the Philippines and Malaysia.

The USS Lassen on Monday started patrolling the 12-mile zone of artificial islands China has built in the South China Sea, the Pentagon said. Maritime reconnaissance planes P-8A and P3 will escort the destroyer. Washington earlier said it would frustrate Beijing’s attempts to declare the area around the artificial islands as its territorial waters. The Chinese foreign minister on Tuesday cautioned the United States against taking reckless steps and creating incidents out of nowhere. In turn, Tokyo said the Japanese government was in tight coordination with the US Administration in connection with the latter’s decision to dispatch the USS Lassen to the South China Sea.

Earlier, Beijing declared it would soon be through with earthmoving work at several reefs of the Spratly (Nansha) Archipelago. Some countries in the region, including Vietnam and the Philippines, have been asserting their own sovereignty over these territories. Also, they criticize China for pushing ahead with construction work, which, in their opinion, pursues the aim of creating military infrastructures there.

The deputy chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Andrei Klimov, likened the USS Lassen’s visit to the South China Sea to "playing with fire." "Russia objects in principle to any display of military initiatives in areas of high tensions, in particular, without consent from the specific country these initiatives are addressed to. This by no means helps ease the tensions, but sends them to new highs," Klimov told TASS.

"US sabre rattling near the borders of China - a permanent member of the UN Security Council - is likely to draw questions from another UN SC member, Russia. Nobody should feel free to make voyages there without an invitation," Klimov said.

The deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of US and Canada Studies, Viktor Kremenyuk, is somewhat ironic about the White House’s demarche. "A destroyer is not an aircraft carrier. The Pentagon might have dispatched to China’s shores some of its torpedo boats or a fishing ship just as easily. The issue isn’t worth a dime. It is not in the United States’ interests to foment the risk of an armed confrontation with its largest trading and economic partner. A war with China? Such a scenario is absolutely ruled out, in particular, in the wake of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s successful visit to Washington in September and the multi-billion contract signed," Kremenyuk told TASS.

He believes that by sending the USS Lassen to the 12-mile zone around the disputed islands Washington demonstrates support for its allies in the Asia-Pacific Region. "Washington makes it pretty clear to its allies in the Asia-Pacific Region that the White House is by no means flirting with China for the sake of beneficial cooperation and that it remains a firm safeguard of their interests. The US 7th Fleet, based in the Pacific and Indian oceans, will remain a guarantee of that," Kremenyuk said.

"Surely, China is not going to suspend its reclamation work at the controversial islands, whether some may like it or not. Beijing will thereby demonstrate its firmness and independent position. The United States is perfectly aware of that. There is no way of forcing Beijing to backtrack without triggering an internal political crisis in China, accusations against Xi he has surrendered to Washington and an upsurge in anti-American sentiment. The White House is by no means interested in all that," he said.

"The United States is deliberately pouring fuel onto the conflict in the South China Sea in accordance with the old-time crisis management theory. Washington is provoking China into a certain response. It would like to see in what way China might react. In the end the United States and China will sooner or later come to terms to defuse the crisis. After all, they will surely not dare put at risk a plethora of their trading and economic interests. That’s how the complex modern world is arranged. Rationalism prevails," Kremenyuk stated.

And the head of the Centre for International Security under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Aleksei Arbatov, believes that the US naval ship’s visit to the South China Sea is a warning gesture addressed to Beijing, expected to dissuade it from declaring a 12-mile zone around the artificial islands as a zone closed to free shipping.

"But a gesture will remain a gesture, as long as the ships' guns stay quiet. There still remains the possibility Beijing will send its naval force to the disputed area. Neither the United States nor China will go as far as full-scale military confrontation. After some muscle flexing they will turn away and leave for home," Arbatov said.

Iran's regime could be on track to execute more than 1,000 people this year, a U.N. investigator said on Monday.

U.N. special rapporteur on Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, suggested that human rights violators in Iran should be named and shamed and targeted with sanctions such as a travel ban.

Shaheed said "there have been rising executions" in Iran and that women are still treated as second-class citizens, Reuters reported.

Some 700 people have already been executed in Iran in 2015 and the regime is "possibly on track to exceed a 1,000 by the end of the year," Shaheed said. He has reported that at least 753 people were executed in Iran in 2014.

He also criticized Tehran for jailing some 40 journalists during the year for vague charges.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report in August that promises by the Iranian regime's President Hassan Rouhani of greater freedoms for the country have not resulted in any major improvements in human rights and freedom of expression.

Shaheed is due to brief a General Assembly human rights committee this week.

LIMA – Two inmates were killed and 49 others injured in a fire that was intentionally started and subsequent riot at the prison in the Peruvian city of Chiclayo, located 780 kilometers (about 485 miles) north of Lima, the Ombudsman’s Office said.

The fire started around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday during a dispute involving two groups of prisoners, National Bureau of Prisons director Julio Cesar Magan told Radio Programas del Peru, or RPP.

One prisoner doused another inmate, identified as Frank Sanchez, with liquid glue and set him on fire.

Sanchez died from his injuries while being transported to Las Mercedes Hospital, Magan said.

An investigation is being conducted to determine how the inmate obtained the glue used to start the fire, the National Bureau of Prisons chief said.

Fourteen inmates were injured in the blaze and three of them are listed in serious condition, the Ombudsman’s Office’s representative in Lambayeque, Julio Hidalgo, said in a statement.

One of the injured inmates, identified as Jaime Gil, died while being treated at Lambayeque Regional Hospital, media reports said.

The fire triggered a fight that ended in a riot, the Ombudsman’s Office said.

A total of 35 people, including 20 inmates wounded by rubber bullets fired by prison guards and 15 corrections officers, were injured in the incident, the Ombudsman’s Office said.

Guards and police managed to regain control of the prison after a protest that lasted more than five hours, Magan said.

BUENOS AIRES – The shock over the murders of nine women in Argentina over the past week on Tuesday came to a head with renewed urgent calls for the government to act to avoid new victims and guarantee the protection within the family home.

“The figure for a week is very high,” said Ada Rico, director of the Marisel Zambrano Femicide Observatory, which is part of the non-governmental organization Casa del Encuentro.

“We’re concerned. They must take urgent measures to prevent more women from dying from sexist violence,” added Rico, who recalled that on June 3 tens of thousands of people shouted “Not one more” in marches organized nationwide to protest violence against women.

In eight of the nine murders this past week, the suspects are partners or former partners of the victims who – in at least two cases – had gotten restraining orders against them resulting from previous violent episodes.

In the ninth murder, the 18-year-old victim was found dead in a field and the initial investigation has found that she engaged in prostitution. Authorities are searching for one of her customers as the presumed killer.

Five of the crimes were committed in Buenos Aires province, two in Salta and one each in Rio Negro and Mendoza.

“They have to implement protective mechanisms,” said Rico, who added that the current budget for that is insufficient and the next government should increase the number of women’s shelters and guarantee access to the court system for women who find themselves threatened.

In addition, she called for protection for the children of the victims with the approval of two new laws, one removing parental responsibilities from husbands or partners convicted of femicide and the other providing economic reparations for the children.

Between 2008 and 2014, 1,808 women were killed in domestic or sexual violence in Argentina, according to figures compiled by the Femicide Observatory. As a result of those murders, 2,196 children were left without mothers.

Monday, October 26, 2015

NCRI - Young Iranians who are fed up with the theocratic dictatorship in power in Iran are yearning for change, Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the former Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has said.

“The nuclear agreement with Iran does nothing to improve its appalling civil and human rights record. There's nothing in it that seeks to persuade the regressive regime to change, to look at itself, to improve its approach to the democratic process, the rule of law and to human rights. Nothing at all,” Baroness Boothroyd said at a conference on human rights in Iran at the Houses of Parliament on October 19.

"I happen to believe, and I have some evidence of it, that Iran's secular middle class want democracy, they have a yearning for some change, and they want to see progress, prosperity and be a properly accepted member of the international community. And I believe too that young people want to see change."

Baroness Boothroyd said the Iranian regime is denying the people of Iran their basic human rights.

“Forty years ago, I wore the black sash of the anti-apartheid movement, when most people had no human rights under South Africa's racist regime. And while I was parading outside South Africa House, with my black sash on and the policeman keeping an eye on me, I never expected to in my wildest dreams, to welcome Nelson Mandela to my country, as democratic leader of South Africa, when I was speaker of the Commons”, Baroness Boothroyd said.

“This only happened because defiant, determined and dedicated people in South Africa and elsewhere proved to the White supremacists that they were not immune to the forces of change. And I think it's in that spirit of defiance, I believe that Iran's theocracy is not immune to them now,” she added.

Former UK House of Commons speaker Baroness Boothroyd and a delegation of British lawmakers on January 27, 2014 met and held talks with the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance Maryam Rajavi during their visit to the headquarters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris.

The high-level delegation of British lawmakers called for a full United Nations investigation into the September 1, 2013 Camp Ashraf massacre and urgent UN protection for thousands of members of the main Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, or MEK) in Camp Liberty, Iraq.

The British lawmakers described the Iranian regime’s interference in the region, especially in Iraq and Syria, as 'dangerous' and backed Mrs Rajavi’s proposal that a complete halt to the Iranian regime’s meddling in Syria is the sole solution to this crisis.

They expressed full support for Mrs Rajavi's 10-point plan for the future of Iran as the best guarantee for democracy and human rights as well as peace and tranquility in the region and the world.

JERUSALEM – The Israeli authorities now allow unrestricted entry to the Temple Mount for the first time during the current escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine, the police said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said on Friday that the day of prayers ended without exceptions and with the participation of about 30,000 Muslim worshippers, adding that there were no age restrictions for the entry.

The Temple Mount is located in East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, and houses al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

The place has been the epicenter of tension and in recent weeks the Israeli authorities prevented the entry of Muslims under 50 years.

A 57-year-old Brazilian woman died after passing out while visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu, Peruvian authorities reported in a communique.

Maria de Fatima Cavati was strolling around the ancient Inca citadel with her three sisters on Monday when she fainted in the area of the archaeological park known as Doce Puertas.

UKRAINE Tourist dies at Machu Picchu ?

The tourist from the Ukraine who died of a heart attack while visiting the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, had dreamed all his life to know this majestic place, without believing that his health would play against .

FACTS. Sushchenko Lidia, 73, visited the marvel of the world on the last Saturday at noon. It was exactly in the place known as the home of Inca guardian within the archaeological complex, when he suddenly fell to the ground and lost consciousness

U.S. Tourist dies after falling into ravine near Machu Picchu Peru ?

An American tourist, identified as Gian Cecilia Rachel, died Tuesday after falling into a ravine while covering the route of the trail, heading to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu (Peru Southeast), regional police said. The accident occurred on the first day of 2013 near the Inti Punco, known for being difficult geography, amid mountains with deep chasms of the jungle of southern Andean department of Cusco. Gian, 26, was on the final leg of their journey and not far from the stone citadel, when he fell into the ravine for unknown reasons, according to the police report.

SAN JUAN – Outbreaks of bacterial infection at two Jamaican hospitals have claimed the lives of 18 babies since June, the government said Wednesday.

“I want to start by expressing my support to the families involved. As a father myself, I know what it is like to have a sick child, but I cannot begin to imagine what a parent goes through when they lose a child no matter the reason,” Health Minister Fenton Ferguson said in a statement.

Ferguson said the ministry has already sent teams to the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where a total of 42 newborns were infected and 18 died.

The infections were caused by klebsiella and serratia, two common bacteria.

Most of the fatalities were premature babies.

The Health Ministry said it has taken steps to increase monitoring of sanitation practices, improve training of hospital staff and restrict items allowed into nurseries, among other measures.

MEXICO CITY – Police found the body of a 45-year-old man in a Mexico City street near the bridge where a body was found hanging earlier this week, the Federal District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

The body was discovered Tuesday night in Iztapalapa, a borough in eastern Mexico City, with “gunshot wounds,” a DA’s office spokesman told EFE.

The killers left a message for Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera with the body.

Police also found a message near the body hanging off a bridge on Monday.

The two killings appear to be related to a dispute between rival gangs operating out of the Reclusorio Oriente prison, and the DA’s office is investigating the homicides.

Mexico’s drug cartels frequently hanged the bodies of rivals, often accompanied by messages, off bridges during President Felipe Calderon’s 2006-2012 administration.

The practice was especially common in northern states like Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, but it has been rare in Mexico City.

Iztapalapa has been considered one of the most dangerous areas in Mexico City for years.

Government Undersecretary for Law Enforcement and Citizens Participation Arturo Escobar acknowledged in an interview published on Wednesdy by the daily El Universal that Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero and Cuauhtemoc were the Mexico City boroughs that the federal government was most concerned about.

Mexico City officials say that drug cartels do not operate in the capital, where retail drug sales are dominated by small gangs.

MEXICO CITY – Investigators are looking into the murder of a hotel worker who was gunned down at a club located next to a restaurant in the Mexican Pacific resort city of Acapulco where Guerrero Gov. Hector Astudillo was dining, the Guerrero Attorney General’s Office said Sunday.

Gunmen riding in a vehicle opened fire on the man outside a club in Acapulco’s waterfront district around 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, the AG’s office said in a statement.

“The Attorney General’s Office is conducting all the necessary investigations to clear up this regrettable incident,” the AG’s office said.

The statement did not mention the fact that the governor was eating at the restaurant, but media reports said Astudillo was at the establishment next to the disco.

“What happened in Acapulco is sad; there was an incident at a place near where we were dining. We are fine,” the governor said in a Twitter post.

Media reports said members of the governor’s security team were wounded when they repelled the attack.

Astudillo plans to hold a press conference to discuss the shooting.

Acapulco, one of Mexico’s leading tourist destinations, has been plagued by a wave of drug-related violence that has claimed the lives of dozens of people.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The body of a man wrapped from ankles to neck in white bandages was found Monday hanging from a bridge in Mexico City.

The city prosecutor's office said in a statement that the man was approximately 25 years old and had had two bullet wounds to the head.

The body was found hanging from the Concordia bridge in the Acatitla neighborhood around 5 a.m. A black cloth appeared to cover his head like a hood, but his face was exposed and the rope was tied around his chest. He was not wearing shoes.

A sign with a warning was found below the bridge, about 100 yards away. Officials did not reveal what the warning was.

Israeli officials on Monday said they've learned that the senior Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip has instructed its operatives in the West Bank to carry out suicide attacks against Jewish targets, a number of media outlets reported on Monday.The focal points of Hamas activity in the Palestinian territories are Nablus and Hebron, Israeli officials said.

As authorities struggle to grapple with the wave of Palestinian acts of violence in recent weeks, Israeli officials are convinced that Hamas will make every effort to execute a large-scale attack by using whatever means are available to its men in the field.

A Palestinian source told Israel Radio that the Palestinian Authority's security forces apprehended a group of Hamas men in Hebron who were planning a number of attacks.

According to the PA, the Hamas operatives were found to have in their possession large sums of money as well as explosives.

While it was unclear exactly how the men planned to carry out the attack, the Palestinian security forces said they had expressed their desire to die.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior figure in Hamas' political bureau, told an Islamist-affiliated web site in Gaza that he was hopeful the current violence would escalate into "an armed intifada."

The Hamas leader said that it was incumbent on the Palestinians to use firearms and more deadly means "since this is what the Israeli side is doing."

"Those who are coming out against an armed intifada are doing so out of personal interest and VIP status," he said, taking a veiled verbal swipe at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

MOSCOW, October 17. /TASS/. Russia is taking the first step towards the U.S. and it is open for a dialogue on fighting terrorism in Syria, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Vesti V Subbotu weekly television programme.

"Let’s see," he said in response to a question whether Moscow expects Washington to change its scepticism for contacts with Russia on these issues. "Let’s see what decisions they (the U.S.) will be taking."

"Anyway, I would like to repeat once again: clearly, in this respect this country is making the first step, and we are ready for a dialogue," Medvedev said.

"We are open for discussing any issues," he said adding President Putin had told exactly the same.

"The U.S. refusal to discuss with Russia fighting terrorism in Syria is silly"

Russia’s Prime Minister also calls "silly behaviour" the refusal of the U.S. to send over to Russia or to accept in the U.S. a Russian delegation to discuss fighting terrorism and the Syrian settlement.

"You know, this is what I say: I believe it is a silly behaviour," he said. "By these decisions or by the refusal from talks the Americans demonstrate their weakness."

"In my opinion, it is a weak positon of short-seeing, as strong leaders and countries, who undertake responsibilities, in cases of the kind agree to enter talks even in situations their views differ," Medvedev said. "Anyway, we have never avoided talks."

The prime minister did not share the opinion in case of a visit to the U.S. he would be appointed head of the Russian delegation due to his good relations with the U.S. President Barack Obama at the times of his presidency.

Medvedev continued saying the Russian side suggested exchanging the delegations "practically immediately as the military mission began."

"Our behaviour in that respect was purely in interests of counterparts - both the Russian president spoke to his counterpart, and the foreign ministry had consultations, but the signal, of course, was made already as the military actions began," he said.

As the problem of spreading of the Islamic State terrorist group emerged in the Middle East, the U.S. invited Russia to fight it jointly.

"But to fight how? In order to fight, it is necessary to realise on who the fight will be targeted," he said. "Jointly with the Syrian authorities, we have, of course, picked several targets, the supreme commander made the decision, and the Armed Forces are carrying out the work. The Americans are not satisfied, they are telling us either the strikes are aimed wrongly, or the targets are wrong."

Russia has suggested to the U.S. to discuss the targets, he said. "They tell us: ‘No, we are not showing them.’ So, what sort of cooperation is that?"

The U.S. called on Russia "to settle the task in a complex, to agree on Syria’s future, to discuss the future of Assad, to continue political settlements," Medvedev said. "Thus came the idea of a political delegation; and that delegation could discuss most different issues, beginning from the military-expert to political, related to national dialogues, or settlement."

"The reply from the U.S. Administration is shocking: ‘No, we do not need it. Russia’s behaviour is not correct, and thus a dialogue is impossible.’," Medvedev said.

Russia’s intention to discuss political aspects caused bewilderment, he said.

"It is most important to discuss the political issues," Medvedev said. "Important to Russia, the U.S., all countries interested in peace in the region and Syria, in having normal power there."

"U.S. in Syria demonstrate lack of force, competence"

Dmitry Medvedev agrees the U.S. Administration demonstrates a lack of force and competence in Syria.

"Here is a very serious conflict, and it is necessary to react to it, and the reaction of the U.S. current administration is rather weird," he said commenting on the situation in Syria. "What are main claims addressed to the U.S. Administration? It allows to itself what is unacceptable - weakness, indecision, incompetence - well, it simply does not undertake measures to protect certain interests," the Russian prime minister said. "I cannot say whether it is so or not, this is their business, but anyway, judging by the statements we heard last week, including by some officials at the White House, that seems to be true."

"U.S. manages to achieve nothing in Syria"

The U.S.-led coalition in Syria has not achieved anything over the term of its mission there. Changing the situation there regarding fighting terrorists there became possible only with the mission of the Russian Armed Forces there, Medvedev said.

"Well, clearly the result from their (U.S.) activities in that region in fighting IS (Islamic State) is practically zero, IS continues spreading," the Russian prime minister said. "Russia’s interference only has changed the situation."

Medvedev said in the time of his presidency, he visited Syria (in May, 2010 - TASS.).

"By the way, I may be one of those few who managed to be in Syria and to see how Syria lived before the war," he said.

"You know what, it was a normal, rather modern country. A peaceful country, where monuments were not ruined, where the economy was normal," he said. "And who knows what happens there now; it is a most grave result of recent years.".

"It is not of major importance to Russia Assad is head of country; this is concern of Syrians"

Russia is fighting in Syria not for some leaders, including President Bashar Assad, but for its own national interests. It will be the Syrian people, who will decide who will run the Syrian Arab Republic, Russia’s Prime Minister said.

"Of course, we are fighting not for certain leaders, we are fighting for our own national interests, on one hand," he said recollecting the Russian president saying if the terrorists in Syria are not killed they would later on come to Russia. "And secondly - we have a request from the legal authorities; this is our position."

"It is not of major important who will be running (Syria)," Medvedev said. "We do not want IS to be running the Syrian Republic, don’t we? Right? That should be civilised, legitimate power."

Medvedev replied in the negative to the question if it matters for Russia Bashar Assad remains at power.

"Now," he said. "Who will be the leader of Syria is an issue to be decided by the Syrian people," he said.

"Our current position is that the legitimate president is Assad," Medvedev said.